Kenny G's Hour of Pain playlist

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Erik Satie's VEXATIONS

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Artist | Song | Album [Comments]

> Eric Satie | Vexations

| Played by Riri Shimada on a disc called "Pianoworks" Sony / Legacy [Written between 1893-95, "Vexations" became Satie's most celebrated work for the simple reason that this short piano piece had the instructions to be played 840 times. It was shrugged off as a joke for decades until 1963 when John Cage got a team of pianists together and tacked the whole thing in 18 hours. It's since been performed many times but rarely by one pianist. Most pianists, even after hours and hours of playing the work experience a sort of amnesia and can't remember the tune that they were playing at all. Pianists have also been know to experience hallucinations while performing the work, testifying to it's mystical inducing qualities. Gavin Bryars once referred to "Vexations" as a kind of poor man's "Ring of the Nebelung".]

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